by Amma Lee
"Madam…" a deep voice sounded in the room, and she turned around and lowered her dark hood revealing her long red tresses.
"I know, I'm going to handle them," Melanie said.
"What can I do to help you?" the mysterious man said.
"Make sure that nobody enters my private chambers," Melanie said, and with a snap of her fingers, she transformed into a little girl. "Those kids won't be interfering with us any longer. I believe I am close to figuring out how to release our magic. Once I've figured out, we will be indestructible." Melanie and the suspicious man had laughed before Melanie disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
****
"Do you sense anything, Thomas?" Theodore asked as he created a veil of light around them.
"The whole swamp gives me a sense of unease, but I do not sense anything that can pinpoint me to whoever is creating this powerful spell." Thomas knew that this wasn't going to be an easy mission, but he still hoped to crack the case before things got completely out of hand.
"Theodore, can you pull up a map of the place?" Leonne asked trying to see if that'll make traveling a bit easier.
"Negative, the only thing I can generate with my multi-tool is the light, I cannot use any other features," Theodore said as he navigated through his multi-tool. Leonne bit his bottom lip and sighed. This was definitely the work of someone with magical capabilities. Leonne didn't want to sound arrogant, but no human could have outsmarted them like this.
"Boss, I think it'll be best to climb one of these trees," Dylan offered. "We'd be able to cover more ground versus walking around aimlessly." Leonne stopped and considered that for a moment before looking at Thomas.
"Thomas… what do you think?" It took a lot for Leonne to ask for Thomas' opinion, but they were a team, so they had to act like it.
"Well… if we were dealing with humans, that might work, but I don't think witches and warlocks would make it that easy for us." Dylan walked in front and touched a tree that he knew he'd be able to climb.
"I'm going to get higher ground because that's our best option." Dylan tried to go along with Thomas' plans, but Thomas wasn’t getting them anywhere at the moment. He might have been useful earlier that day, but at the moment he wasn't moving the mission along fast enough.
"Dylan!" Leonne cried out. He couldn't stand it when Dylan allowed his pride to get the best of him. What he was doing might have consequences. Dylan paid Leonne no mind as he continued to climb the tree. At least… the boy tried to climb up the tree.
"What the...?" Dylan paused and looked at the tree and then at his hands. "Ugh… there's slime running down the tree!" Dylan shouted agitated. Thomas couldn't help but chuckle at the boy. That's what he got for not listening to Thomas.
"I told you the swamp was enchanted, right? The magical beings will not give us any chances to uncover anything! Especially if they're the actual culprits," Dylan muttered something unintelligible and looked at Leonne. Leonne had his arms folded frowning at his comrade.
"Sorry boss," Dylan said sincerely.
"Dylan, we've promised to work together as a team. You can't just be disregarding the advice that Thomas gives. We need him." Leonne made sure to say "need" with as much emphasis as possible.
"I know, it won't happen again," Dylan said nodding at Leonne. "Sorry," Dylan muttered apologizing to Thomas.
"It happens," Thomas could have teased the young boy, but there wasn't any time for that.
"Look!" Theodore said abruptly causing everyone to stop in their tracks in shock. "There's a little girl over there," Theodore said pointing his finger directly in front of them. Leonne, Dylan, and Thomas turned towards the direction where Theodore was pointing and saw a little girl with red hair walking towards them.
Chapter Six
"What are you boys doing here?" the little girl asked, placing her hands on her hips. Leonne looked towards his team and moved forward warily. She might have been a child, but for all they knew, this kid could have easily been a witch and the thief.
"Hi little girl, we should be asking you the same thing," Leonne said avoiding the girl's question. The girl's eyebrow wrinkled in frustration.
"I always walk through these woods! I like it here! Are you trying to chase off the toads?" The little girl asked. Thomas decided to observe the situation. The little girl didn't look threatening at all. Thomas couldn't sense anything wrong with the girl, but something was telling him not to let this girl know that he could talk.
"Of course not," Leonne said with a smile. "We’re just having a little adventure."
"You shouldn't be in the woods girl. There are witches and warlocks in here," Dylan said, and both Theodore and Leonne looked at him in horror.
"Dylan!" They said in unison and Dylan turned pale and closed his mouth.
"Witches and warlocks?" The girl raised her eyebrow and looked up towards the darkened sky. "I've seen some weird looking people a couple of days ago leaving the forest. I followed them without them noticing. They made a hole appear in front of them and walked through it, and I haven't seen them since. They were definitely not human." The girl had to be around five or six, but she appeared brilliant.
"Ah, so they left? Let's go guys, they're not here." Theodore said. If they were not here, there was no point in investigating the swamp any longer right? The quicker they could get out of there, the happier Theodore would be.
"Are you sure you're not making that up?" Leonne asked gently. They were going to ask around town for any mysterious sightings, but never in their wildest dream would they have thought they'd be receiving this Intel from a little girl.
"Humph! I know this swamp better than everyone! I don't have to make it up," Leonne looked at the girl more closely. She is definitely a human, Leonne thought to himself.
"Okay… um… what's your name?" Leonne asked.
"Melanie."
"Melanie, it's dangerous to be in the woods right now. Should we take you back home to your parents?" Sighing, Melanie shook her head fast.
"No! I'll go home by myself! I'm in these woods every day and I'm not afraid of anything!" Melanie said. In this new age, young kids often took care of themselves at the young age of five because of all of the high-tech equipment made. Almost everyone had some type of teleporter. Leonne hated that they were just going to let a little girl go home by herself, but they had their own work to do.
"Alright, be careful Melanie," Leonne said, and everyone turned in the direction that they had come.
"Alright guys, where are we heading now?" Theodore asked grabbing the teleporter out of his pocket. They'll need to walk back towards the entrance to use it where the magic isn't as potent.
"Hold on," Thomas said, and everyone stopped walking and turned towards Thomas. Thomas closed his eyes and made sure that he didn't sense anybody before he spoke again. "Are you really going to believe that girl's story?" Thomas whispered low enough for the Millennium Squad to hear him, but not loud enough for any tracking spells to be able to pick up his words.
"Yeah, the little girl didn't have a reason to lie to us," Leonne said nodding his head. "Why are you whispering?" Thomas sighed. How was one of the best detectives in the world so good if they believed the first story that they're told? Thomas had a feeling that he was wrong about the Millennium Squad.
"Look… let's move some place where the magic isn't as thick." Thomas didn't wait for the boys to respond, he walked around them and ran towards the entrance of the swamp.
"I don't know what he has to say, but he better not make us miss the witches again," Leonne said looking at Dylan and Theodore before running after Thomas.
****
"Huh? You think that little girl is a witch?" Dylan questioned in disbelief. The Millennium Squad and Thomas had teleported to Ellington City to ensure that they were not overheard by anyone who may still be in the swamp.
"Of course," Thomas said in a matter a fact type of way. "That girl's story was just too unreal. If she had followed witches around in that swamp,
they would have sensed her no questions asked. For someone to go to that remote location and steal something that is supposed to be under everyone's radar, there was no way a typical little girl could have outsmarted them." Thomas said and licked at his paw. The swampy wasteland had made his fur uneasily dirty.
Leonne did find it a little odd that the girl was in the forest alone and was able to follow the magical beings without being detected, but smaller kids could be useful for some things. At least that is what Leonne liked to believe.
"I see your reasoning," Theodore added pushing up his glasses. "I do know that magical beings have tracking abilities, and the only way that little girl could have remained undetected was if she was a witch herself," Thomas nodded his head and grinned. He liked Theodore; he was more intelligent and sharp than the other members. Thomas was starting to doubt why Leonne was the leader and not Theodore. "But…. that doesn't mean that the little girl had anything to do with the theft so let's just move on to the next location!" Theodore said quickly, and Thomas shook his head and sighed. He understood now why Leonne was the leader and not Theodore… Leonne was brave.
"Not so fast young one," Thomas said. "If we take my theory into consideration, that girl lied about there not being any magical beings in the swamp because she's obviously a young witch," he looked at the three boys to make sure they were following along. "We'll go back into the swamp and continue our investigation. I have a feeling that the girl is the key to this case."
"Hmmm… you seem like you're sure about this and I have to admit that your reasoning makes sense." Leonne said scratching his head. They needed to come up with a plan to remain undetected going back into the swamp. "We're going to need something that conceals our presence, though. If that girl is really a witch, we can't just march back in there the way that we did earlier."
"Our electronic devices don't work in there, and it'll take me too long to figure out a way to hide our presence without advancing our technology," Theodore said frowning.
"We can take the swamp by force if we absolutely need to. I understand that this isn't the route that we should go, but that's the only solution I can come up with, boss." Dylan said. He honestly couldn't offer any other solution. The girl may be a witch, but Dylan doubted that she knew too many powerful spells. If she's the only witch there, the Millennium Squad might be able to overpower her.
"I have just the solution," Thomas said and looked towards Theodore. "Pass me my bag," Thomas didn't like carrying around too much stuff when he was doing investigations. Mainly because it would put a strain on his smaller body, so luckily for him Theodore had offered to carry the bag for him. Theodore gave Thomas his bag and Thomas searched in it for a few moments.
"What do you have for us?" Leonne asked. Thomas was always pulling out a bag of tricks whenever they were in a sticky situation. So Leonne wasn't surprised that Thomas probably had something to help them.
"Viola," Thomas said pulling out a vial and holding it in his small mouth. The boys didn't know what was in the vial, but even they could tell that what was in that vial was the exact same substance they had found at the crime scene.
It was magic dust.
Chapter Seven
"That stuff was disgusting," Dylan mumbled as he, Leonne, Theodore, and Thomas walked through the swamp again.
"When did you even have the chance to make that?" Theodore asked intrigued. Back in Ellington, Thomas pulled out a vial of magic that was able to hide their presence anywhere for a limited amount of time. He was both fascinated and a little afraid that Thomas knew how to manipulate magic like that.
"Oh you know," Thomas said leading them through the swamp. "You can never be over-prepared. Since we're dealing with witches and what not, I had to think of a way to come up with a way to throw off their senses. If you can do that, you stand more of a chance against magical beings."
"Good job, Thomas. We're glad to be working with you." Leonne said sincerely. Thomas tended to have exactly what they needed when they felt like they had their backs against a wall. The more time they spent with the cat detective, the more Leonne was starting to trust him.
"Thanks, boss," Thomas said grinning. Leonne was shocked that Thomas had called him "boss" without any traces of sarcasm in his words. It was then Leonne was confident that no matter what happened, as long as they had Thomas they would prevail. "Wait," Thomas said pausing and the boys stopped as well. Thomas sniffed the air a few times, and his fur over his slender body bristled. "I smell several beings nearby," Thomas sniffed the air again, "none of them are humans."
"Several!" Dylan exclaimed, and everyone turned towards him and shushed him. They were on a stealth mission so they couldn't have Dylan giving away their position.
"Yes, it's a little up ahead. Stay low and be quiet." The magic that they were using was powerful enough to conceal their presence in the swamp, but it didn't do anything far as sound was concerned.
"Guys, we need to stay together, but we shouldn't be too close to each other for fear that we might be more visible," Leonne said to his team. "We need to stagger a little." Leonne stayed where he was, but Theodore and Dylan slightly moved to the right of Leonne, and to the left of him. Since Thomas was so small, he stayed where he initially was.
"There's a house up ahead. Do you three see it?" Leonne, Dylan, and Theodore looked forward and squinted their eyes. Even with all of the shrubbery and high grass around, they were still able to make out the house.
"Yeah," the three boys said together.
"I'm going to scout the area out first, and I'll give you the A-Okay if nobody is patrolling around outside. Keep low because I don't have any magic up my sleeve to make us invisible." Thomas didn't wait for the boys to respond as he ran towards the house. Leonne nodded to Dylan and Thomas, and they stayed behind, making sure they could see Thomas well enough to see his signal.
Since Thomas was a cat, he knew he'd be able to navigate the swamp around well enough to not raise any unwanted attention. That's what made his job so easy, nobody was expecting a cat to be able to talk, let alone be a private eye. Thomas walked around the house to make sure it was safe enough for the boys to come near. Once he was sure of that, he jumped up to a small window which thankfully was not shrouded with heavy magic.
Thomas couldn't believe what he was looking at.
****
"Madam, we've patrolled the area and the Millennium Squad are no longer in the swamp." Melanie turned around, still disguised as a child, and grinned.
"Of course, because I shooed them out." Melanie turned back towards her dresser and picked up the Restrict Amulet. "I'll be done here soon, so please leave me to my research." The mysterious man bowed and exited the room. ‘Ugh… time to drop the act," Melanie muttered to herself and snapped her fingers. In a matter of seconds, Melanie regained her true form.
Melanie knew that once she got the magic out of the amulet that she wouldn't share it with her comrades. She intended to be this world's queen, and she couldn't do that if all of the witches and warlocks were equal in strength. Besides, she was the one who actually retrieved the amulet, so she should be the one to reap all of the amulet's benefits.
"I will be the most powerful witch in the world! Nobody will be able to stop me! Ha! Ha! I'm superior to humans and humans will pay for taking away a higher being's magic!" Melanie hated that she hadn't figured out how to release the magic from the amulet yet, but patience was key. She had fooled the Millennium Squad already, and if they figured out that they've been deceived, they would already be too late.
But Melanie wouldn't get away with her crime. She would not become queen of this world and make humans "pay" because Thomas was there with the Millennium Squad. Seeing the child change from child to adult proved that Thomas was right about little Melanie. Melanie was a witch, and she was the culprit.
"I won't let you get away with this," Thomas said and gave the signal.
****
"Humph… so I guess she really was a witch." Dylan said aft
er Thomas gave his report. Thomas nodded his head and instead of smiling, a serious expression marred his face.
"Yes, I was 90% sure she was a witch."
"So what's the plan?" Theodore asked looking at Leonne and Leonne considered Theodore's question briefly.
"We need to get inside and remain undetected for as long as possible," Leonne said looking at everyone. "The magic enchanting us only lasts temporarily so we do not know when it'll wear off. Let's focus on getting into the house with ease. If we're lucky, Melanie will leave the amulet unattended for a while. We'll make our move then and try to get out just as quick."